WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOG....

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ALL ENTRIES ON THIS BLOG WILL BE SUSPENDED UNTIL DECEMBER 6th.

 I AM OFFICIALLY WRITING A BOOK FOR NATIONAL NOVEL WRITER'S MONTH IN 

NOVEMBER. 

I WILL ALSO PARTICIPATE IN  THE 2014 NOVEMBER PAD CHAPBOOK CHALLENGE.

For info on these two events please log on to nanowrimo.org and writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides

                                                 SEE YOU HERE IN DECEMBER!!!

JAZZ NOTES

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THE INSTRUMENTS OF JAZZ

Many of the earliest jazz groups derived their instrumentation from the 

European brass band model that included trumpet, trombone, clarinet, saxophone, and tuba. Some of the bands in the earliest groups of New Orleans, used violin, guitar, bass, and occasionally, cornet or clarinet. These instruments and the style they played were basically European.

The Black fraternal bands that were plentiful in turn-of-the century New Orleans used  European brass band instrumentation, as they played marches and the pop tunes of the day for parades, picnics, funerals and dances.

As time went on most jazz groups began to include a drummer, who played a set of assorted instruments and provided almost continuous timekeeping sounds, as well as generating musical excitement.

Jazz has been played by solo pianists; by pianists in duo with cornet, with clarinet, with string bass; by piano with the accompaniment of string bass and drums; by quasi-brass bands of from five to eight pieces; by quartets and quintets of horns plus rhythm; by "big bands" of twelve to eighteen pieces, and by entire orchestras.

The instruments of jazz, as you can see are varied. A typical group of jazz musicians may have more or less of these as is necessary for their performance. Their main objective is to entertain. The music they play is presented in settings as varied as the instruments they use: concert halls, ballrooms, restaurants, night clubs, and coffee houses, just to name a few.

Jazz is played in hundreds of schools, universities and conservatories and has evolved into a fine and delicate art. It requires the musicians to create the parts they play with their instruments as they are playing them. This makes for excitement because the players are creating something unique in our very presence, and taking us along with them , involving us in the action of making up fresh sounds with their instruments.

HISTORICAL NEWS JOURNAL

POEMS
on Comic, Serious
and Moral Subjects
by Phyllis Wheatley

            Printed for J. French
                 bookseller (1784)

Ed. Note: We express our deep
sorrow at the death of Miss
Wheatley, who after an
unfortunate marriage to John
Peters (who neglected her and
her child), died a pauper, forced
to work in a boarding house to
provide for herself and her
family.

===========================
     The Will

Among the Bequests of
George Fox, who Died Last
Year, are mentioned: 1 Negro
Man, 1 warming Pan, 1 old
looking glass, & 1 gun.

========================
     Wins Lottery,
     Buys Freedom

Newport Gardner, a slave in
Rhode Island, recently won
$2,000 in a lottery. The next
day Mr. Gardner bought himself
and most of his family.
===========================
Collector's Sale

Let those who are careless
about the abolition of Slavery,
read the following advertisements:
Will be offered for public sale
Thursday next at Urqudart's
Tavern, in Friendship, one Negro
woman named Nelly, one girl
named Harriet, one boy named
William, and one named John
and three head of horses. Seized
and taken to satisfy county
taxes due for 1830 and 1831.
             ISRAEL DAVIDSON
              Maryland Republican
...........................................
Ran away, a NEGRO WOMAN
and two children: a few days
before she went off, I burnt her
with a hot iron, on the left side of
her face. I tried to make the letter
M.      Raleigh Standard
.............................................
Any person having sick Negroes,
considered incurable by their
respective physicians, and wishing
to dispose of them, Dr, Stillman
will pay cash......
                   Charleston Mercury




***The preceding were actual newspaper articles

Sojourner Truth - COMMUNITY CREATOR

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SOJOURNER TRUTH, an abolitionist and women's rights activist, was born a slave, Isabella Baumfree, in 1797, in upstate New York. She escaped to freedom with her baby daughter in 1827. A White family gave her shelter.

A year later, when New York outlawed slavery, she moved to New York City.

Baumfree was deeply religious. In 1843 she gave up her job as a maid and became a wandering preacher. She was determined to speak the truth. She gave herself the name Sojourner Truth. A sojourner is someone who travels from place to place. She told her friends, "The Spirit calls me, and I must go." 

Later that year she joined the abolitionist movement, traveling about speaking for the cause of freedom for all slaves. She worked with Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison and other noted abolitionists.

Like many abolitionists, Truth also fought for women's rights and as a result became a friend of Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and other leaders of the women's movement. During the Civil War, she recruited Black soldiers for the Union army as well, as collect food and clothing which she gave to them.

Although she never learned to read or write, her words were powerful. Over the course of her lifetime she gave speeches to hundreds of audiences. In 1858 during one of her speeches, someone interrupted and accused her of being a man; Truth opened her blouse and showed them her breasts.
There was something about Sojourner Truth that made people listen.

To read the incredible bio of Sojourner Truth Google her name 

THE BLACK EXPERIENCE 101

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DID YOU KNOW THAT...


THIS PERSON WAS A DOCTOR WHO SPENT TWO YEARS WORKING WITH POOR PEOPLE IN AFRICA BEFORE GOING ON TO BECOME FAMOUS .



CAN YOU NAME THAT PERSON?

====================================================
Answer to previous quiz (10/18) Sojourner Truth

ANOTHER JAZZ LEGEND

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DIZZY GILLESPIE was born on this day in 1917, in Cheraw, South Carolina. He was a trumpet player, band leader and composer, and sometimes he even used his voice  as an instrument. Yeah, Dizzy was a singer too.

Dizzy, whose real name was John Birks Gillespie, learned to play several instruments from his musician father, James. He played the piano at the age of 4, took a liking to the trombone in his mid-teens, then he taught himself to play the trumpet. He received a scholarship to Laurinberg Institute in North Carolina where he studied harmony and theory for  two years.

Dizzy worked with local bands in Philadelphia in 1935,before getting his first professional job with the Frank Fairfax Orchestra. In 1937, at the young age of 20, he played in England and France with Teddy Hill, and soon made his first recording.

During his early years he also played with the likes of Cab Calloway, Roy Elderidge, Earl Hines, and Billy Eckstine.  At this time Dizzy began writing big band music for band leaders like Woody Herman and Jimmy Dorsey. He also started  experimenting with a more sophisticated approach to harmony and soon moved away from his early influences.

In 1945, Diz co-led a quintet with the legendary Charlie "Bird" Parker, and ushered in a new force in jazz, bebop, which became known as the first modern jazz style.

Always the innovator, Diz also was involved in the Afro-Cuban Movement, bringing those musical elements to a whole new audience of jazz, pop and dance listeners all over the globe.

A personality, as well as a master musician, Diz has received many honors in recognition of his contribution to the world of music.

                                                               

To read more of his remarkable story, Google his name

A JAZZ LEGEND

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JELLY ROLL MORTON was born on this day in 1890, in New Orleans, Louisiana, that is according to his baptismal certificate. Morton claimed that he was actually born on September 20, 1885.  Other documents list various days and dates, so it's not really clear. 

What is clear, however, is that he was a jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer. He is  most notable as jazz's first arranger.

Morton began his musical studies on the guitar at the age of 7, and 3 years later he took up the piano. While still in his teens, he was reputedly a working "professor" in the bordellos of New Orleans' Storyville district; there was always a demand for  "professors" at the piano in their many sporting-houses. Morton was one of the best.

He started with the Ragtime style, and developed it by bringing to it all that his huge musical memory stored. He played rhythms so subtle that critics who didn't understand his style, said he had no sense of timing.

Morton believed that the piano when played solo, should be able to emulate a whole band , and his solo compositions with his Morton's Red Hot Peppers band shows his belief being put incredibly, into practice.   

Morton produced a markedly individual piano sound, and composed jazz of a type that has never been bettered. He understood the music, he understood the instruments, and he wrote for the musicians he chose to play with him.

A series of recordings done with his band between 1926-30 firmly established him as a exemplary jazz composer, arranger, and leader.

 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////

To read a full bio Goggle his name

JAZZ EVENTS

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NEW JERSEY
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

William Patterson University presents it's 37th Season of THE JAZZ ROOM SERIES

For a complete schedule of events and a list of performers click on wppresents.org

JAZZ NOTES

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STYLES OF JAZZ

Since the last world war, every country has made some contribution to the music of jazz. As the music has spread across the globe, it has drawn on local, national and regional musical cultures in varied environments. This exposure has given rise to many distinctive styles. These different styles of jazz co-exist with each other, no matter which ones are in vogue at any given time.

Jazz, then, encompasses a loose collection of many streams.  Offshoots of some streams form streams of their own; sometimes streams remix; sometimes they consolidate by imitation of a particularly distinctive innovator. But more often, styles come from gradual overlapping of approaches and a host of influences that even the players themselves are frequently unaware of it.

Jazz and many of it's related styles have also been affected by almost all musical idioms to which it's players and composers have been exposed: folk and popular musics, "light classics," and even some not-so-light classics. Such influences have also gone in the other direction. American music of all kinds, and indeed, many of the world's music have felt Black influences at least since the 1860s.

As a result, jazz has spawned a variety of subgenres. These subgenres have their stylistic and cultural origins in the Blues, Folk, March, and Ragtime music of New Orleans. 

From the early 1910s we have Dixieland. Then there is the big band-style swing from the 30s and 40s, bebop from the mid-1940s, free jazz from the 50s and 60s, jazz fusion from the 70s, acid jazz from the 80s, Nujazz from the 90s, and so on.

As you explore these relationships between styles and genres, you will discover a remarkable continuity.  Jazz, however, cannot be accurately described as a single stream evolving from Dixieland to swing to bop. There is no neat line of succession, with each subsequent style rendering the previous one obsolete.

 By studying the history of jazz you will learn principles of stylistic evolution  that apply to all art forms, and not just jazz. By studying and listening to jazz it will lead you to related styles that you will also enjoy.

THE BLACK EXPERIENCE 101

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DID YOU KNOW THAT...



ONE OF 13 CHILDREN, THIS PERSON'S BIRTH NAME WAS ISABELLA BAUMFREE.




CAN YOU NAME THAT PERSON?




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Answer to previous quiz (9/29) George Washington Carver.

George Washington Carver-COMMUNITY CREATOR

"""""""""""

George Washington Carver was born into slavery in what is now known as Diamond, Missouri. But because no accurate records were kept at that time, it is not certain whether the year was 1864 or 1865.

When he was an infant, George, his sister, and his mother were kidnapped by raiders from Arkansas. While his mother was sold into slavery, George was eventually returned to his owner, Moses Carver, who, along with his wife Susan, raised him as their own son. They taught him to read and write.

 

After earning his high school diploma, George attended Iowa State Agricultural College in 1891, where he was the first Black student at that school. After receiving his B.S., he went on to Iowa State College where he earned his master's degree.

In 1896, Booker T, Washington, principal and president of Tuskegee Institute invited Carver to head the Agricultural Department. Carver taught there for 47 years, developing the department into a strong research center. 

His unique methods for crop rotation and preservation of the soil were groundbreaking. He taught generations of Black students farming techniques for self-sufficiency.

From 1915 to 1923, Carver focused on researching and experimenting with new methods for using peanuts, sweet potatoes, soy beans, pecans and other crops. In these years he became one of the most well-known Black men of his time.

To read a comprehensive bio of George Washington Carver Google his name.

JAZZ NOTES

CREATIVE ARTWORK

While jazz may be difficult to define, improvisation is clearly one of its key elements. 

The skilled jazz soloist will interpret a tune in very individual ways, never playing the same composition exactly the same way twice. Depending upon that player's mood and personal experience, interactions with fellow musicians, and even members of the audience, a jazz performer may alter melodies and harmonies at will.

Sometimes what is improvised, what is made up by the soloist in performance, is a matter of spontaneous interpretation of the melody, or the harmony. Sometimes the improvisation

 involves the invention of a new melody altogether. 

Although there is no absolute rule about spontaneity in jazz, the possibility of spontaneous departure is always there. Jazz is essentially produced in  an atmosphere of improvisation, and the ability to ad-lib is a part of the jazz soloist's equipment. 

It can thus be said that jazz is primarily a player's art, because even when the player works under the guidance of a jazz composer, it will always involve improvisation.

A JAZZ LEGEND

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Thelonious Monk was born on this day in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, in 1917.  He was a jazz pianist and composer. Monk studied piano privately from an early age, played the organ in church, and traveled with a woman evangelist and faith healer before he was 17.

Monk had an unorthodox approach to the piano, playing it sometimes like it was a drum, attacking and pounding the keys . His style of improvisation was unique, too, filled with abrupt silences, hesitations and off-beat melodic twists.

 Monk recorded his first sessions as a leader in 1947 with Blue Note Records, where he showcased his talents as a composer of original melodies for improvisations.

Monk has listed the legendary composer and arranger Duke Ellington as one of his major influences in  playing the piano. He is the second most recorded jazz composer of all time behind who else, Duke Ellington.

Monk is considered one of the giants in American music. He is the father of jazz drummer, T.S. Monk.

To read a comprehensive bio of Monk's life, Google his name and read all the related entries

HISTORICAL NEWS JOURNAL

RHODE ISLAND SLAVES
TO FIGHT REDCOATS

Washington Reverses Policy, Endorses R.I. Bill

Providence, R.I., Feb. 14, 1778 - Starting today, Rhode Island slaves will be fighting the redcoats in return for their freedom. The R.I. Assembly has passed a bill allowing slaves to enlist in the state forces without permission from their masters...

...R.I.'s action marks a complete reversal of the policy set down by His Excellency General Washington three years ago, excluding all blacks from the war. General Washington himself has changed his attitude on slave enlistment. It was he who urged the bill's passage...The bill's urgency was increased by the enemy's recent takeover of the capital, Newport, and a large part of the countryside...

...In creating the new "Black Regiment," the state bill declares that "A slave who passes muster shall be immediately discharged from the service of his master or mistress and be Absolutely Free."

...The "Black Regiment" will be the first all black unit to fight in the American armies. Approximately 3,000 free blacks are already serving with the patriots, but they are  scattered throughout predominantly white units.

Despite the hostility shown to black soldiers by many whites, men of color have consistently shown themselves to be brave and hardy fellows and their contributions  have not been overlooked by their officers...
...Sentiment against the use of black soldiers is still going on in this state, and the Providence Gazette may not even print a report of the bill's passage.
                                                        ....................

NOTICE
Today's bill has been
amended to halt slave
enlistments after June
or July.
Therefore, black slaves
interested in joining the
Black Regiment should
do so Immediately!

                                                    ..........................

Black Soldiers in the Early Engagements

Peter Salem, when the redcoats, under Smith and Pitcairn, marched to Concord to destroy patriot arms  and ammunition, Peter Salem was among the minutemen who exchanged shots with them. Peter was freed to enlist by his owners, the Belknaps of Framingham. He was in the fray at Breeds Hill, and is believed to have killed redcoat Major John Pitcairn.
Prince Hall, faced the redcoats on the battleground at Breed's Hill. A property owner and voter, Mr. Hall is considered the leader of Boston's small free black community.




***The preceding were actual newspaper articles